


Balin and Dwalin

by Judayre



Series: Pair and Gender Challenge [7]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Gender binary is for wimps, challenge writing, tagged in chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-26
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-01-26 13:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1689998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judayre/pseuds/Judayre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four different ways for Balin and Dwalin to interact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The explanation for this series is still [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1145580/chapters/2319756). Please read!
> 
> So, now that I have several verses started through these I have more places to grab from for the cis chapters. Because why limit myself?
> 
> So this bit goes with [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1392592/chapters/2929531), [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1024357/chapters/3169496), [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1593257/chapters/3425492), and [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1024357/chapters/3539288).

Dwalin was a warrior through and through. He was scarred and tattooed. Big and coarse. Calloused and rough. He was brutally honest and unforgiving.

Except that he wasn't. Few got to see the booming laugh. Fewer the tenderness. And only those few would believe what Balin saw in the first days of his nephew's life.

Big, coarse Dwalin, with his tattooed warrior's hands, held little Norin as if he were made of glass. His calloused fingers caressed the downy hair of his son with a gentleness Balin hadn't seen in too long. The loud voice, with its big, booming laugh and bellowing roar, cooed softly.

Balin got his turn, of course. He wouldn't let the chance to hold his own nephew go by without a fight. And Norin already had Dwalin's strong grip, fingers tight around one of his own or around the hair of his beard.

And Dwalin beamed at him, happy as a child himself. And if Balin ever wondered if the strange romance that had sprung up on the journey between his brother and the thief was a good thing (he hadn't - he knew his brother too well to ever question something that made him so happy), he would have stopped wondering then.

As it was, he smiled and made a joke. And when Dwalin's booming laugh woke the baby and started him crying, Balin laughed at the look of stricken horror on his brother's face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family is supposed to know you best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Directly follows [this one](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1145580/chapters/2319793).

Dwalin was trying to be unnoticed, which was kind of difficult when you were one of the tallest Dwarves around, and a scarred and storied war hero as well. As it was, she was sitting well to the side of the little camp, glaring darkly into the fire when Balin approached and sat next to her.

"The burglar is alive," she said in a growl that told him Bilbo's continued life was something that should not be taken for granted.

"Oh dear," he said mildly in return. "In one piece?"

She turned the full force of the glare on him, and if he hadn't known her from the day she was born even Balin would have been cowed by it. "I'm not a child," she said in the voice she reserved for times she thought he was treating her like a child. "I know how important he is and he saved all our lives more than once. I suppose I owe him _something_ for that."

Balin couldn't quite hide his sigh of relief, and anger blazed in his sister's eyes, dark and disappointed. She stood and walked away, hands balled at her sides as she stalked into the dark woods around them.

But really, if anyone knew Dwalin it was her brother. And she had a nasty temper. She was feared by guard recruits for how tough she was. She was a terror in battle. And--

And guard trainers were _supposed_ to be tough on their trainees. Battles were a terror no matter what and you had to be fierce to survive them. Yes, Dwalin had a short temper, but could Balin truly remember her hurting anyone unable to defend himself? Yet he always acted as though it was something she did all the time.

Now it was Balin who stared into the fire, pensive and wondering when he had so lost track of who his little sister was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have finally stopped just staring at the page and have gotten [a tumblr](http://judayre.tumblr.com/). As yet, I don't really know what to do with it, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goes with [this one](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1155507/chapters/2372100).
> 
> As a reminder, kh should be pronounced like the ch in Bach or Chanukah. It's kind of a clearing the throat sound that English doesn't have.

Khaíli had been born at six and a half pounds. It was a good size. A healthy size. A bit of a large size. Not the largest, of course. Dwalin had been over eight pounds at birth and long to match it. There had been jokes that he was a Man baby instead of a Dwarf, and it had been such a hard labor that for almost a full year most of his care was given over to a wet nurse.

Dwalin wouldn't let that happen to his brother's child. Far beyond the fact that they couldn't afford one, Balin had been glowing for months waiting for his child to be born, and Dwalin would be cursed if he let his brother miss any point of fatherhood.

Óin had ordered bed rest - at least three months while his body healed. But he could sit for a few hours a day and do his law work. And he could hold and feed his child. He couldn't pick Khaíli up, obviously, but Dwalin could put the child gently into his arms and he could rock and rest with his newborn.

Dwalin took care of daily task under his brother's and his cousin's supervision. He changed diapers, gave baths, carried and comforted. He also cooked for himself and Balin, helped Balin wash himself, played courier for Balin's work. And built things to bring in money of his own. They needed as much as they could get so they could properly raise Khaíli.

Khaíli was a good nibling, despite keeping Dwalin up much of the night. But skin contact - holding the child to his chest or under his beard - helped. And the three of them could sleep for hours in Balin's bed together.

Balin chafed at the forced rest. He wanted to be up and about. He wanted more care of his own child. But he knew Óin would tie him down to the bed if he tried and he knew Dwalin would assist her. He wanted to be up and doing, to show off his child. He was so proud of Khaíli, but until he was well again only family could share that pride.

In the meantime, he slowly learned to enjoy the solitude. He and Dwalin had more time together than they had since they were young and living in Erebor with their parents. They had time to know each other as adults, sharing the workload as well as they could, sharing the worries, sharing the joys. And there was a little one - his _own_ little one - who he had to share with no one else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned in a tumblr post (by the way, I have [a tumblr](http://judayre.tumblr.com/) now) that all three of the youngest generation of Durin's line listed in the genealogy in the appendices of LotR have names that end in -li. As there is a fourth member of that generation who doesn't share that (Thorin Stonehelm), I have theorized that there is some meaning to the -li suffix that Erebor's exiles have taken to heart and put forth the possibility of "hope." Khaíli, following that idea, means "hope of life."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Balin and Dwalin meet in the Shire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part of the Hudson. Other entries [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1145580/chapters/2319814), [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1155507/chapters/2366815), [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1392592/chapters/3052771), [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1470961/chapters/3126028), and [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1024357/chapters/3372758)

The first Balin saw zir sibling in years, Dwalin was raiding the cookie jar in the home of their Hobbit burglar.

"Made yourself comfortable, have you?" ze asked pointedly.

Dwalin turned toward zir and grinned. "Balin! Veli! Try one of Bilbo's shortbreads, they're excellent!"

Dwalin's booming cheerfulness was one thing Balin had missed, traveling apart. Ze accepted a cookie, finding that they were, indeed, quite good. "You don't usually help yourself to food in a stranger's home."

"Not my first time here," Dwalin answered, biting down on another. Despite giving a ringing endorsement only a moment earlier, it was apparently a disappointment. "He makes these amazing, jam filled things. But they don't keep well, so he doesn't make them often."

But Balin was only half listening to the complaint. "You've met the burglar before?"

Dwalin snorted, finishing the cookie in two bites. "I don't know what the wizard is on about calling Bilbo Baggins a burglar. He's never taken so much as an apple off a cart without paying for it. And I'll not have him bullied into coming."

If nothing else, the burglar seemed to have weaseled his way into Dwalin's heart. Perhaps there was hope for him after all. He did make excellent cookies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why should there only be 3 words for siblings when there are four genders of Dwarf? Especially when "sibling" is a catch-all term for any gender. So, I put the word "sibling" through google translate and found a couple that I liked the sound of.
> 
> Sibling who is both = veli  
> Sibling who is neither = kârdes


End file.
